Pipe lines: Where are the real organs in Vancouver?

Francois Marchand, vancouver sun03.07.2014

One of the city’s finest instruments has been refurbished for a cost of close to $500,000. This Karn-Warren organ at the Holy Rosary Cathedral, with its 2,899 pipes was built by an Ontario firm 97 years ago is pictured with Father Joseph Le.Ian Smith
/ Vancouver Sun

One of the city’s finest instruments has been refurbished for a cost of close to $500,000. This Karn-Warren organ at the Holy Rosary Cathedral, with its 2,899 pipes was built by an Ontario firm 97 years ago is pictured with Father Joseph Le.Ian Smith
/ Vancouver Sun

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Rogers Arena may not boast the massive organ Carolina Hurricanes keyboardist Larry Olsen plays or the United Center’s copy of the Barton Organ that used to blare through the Mad House at the old Chicago Stadium, but the Vancouver area does have a few spots where you can enjoy the incomparable natural tone of air being pumped through pipes.

Jack Ellis has built and maintained musical instruments since 1967.

He’s based in Abbotsford and his specialty is pipe organ control units. The 68-year-old estimates there are between 50 to 100 pipe organs of all kinds to be found in the Greater Vancouver area. Twenty-five of them feature Ellis’ half-electronic, half-pipes designs.

“Nowadays you can get digital recordings that pretty much sound identical,” he said. “If you recorded both of them, the sound would be exactly the same. I think the difference is that you’re right there in the room with the individual instruments, and on a pipe organ each note is an individual instrument with its own location. I think it’s more a feeling than the sound.

“Symphony and concert halls usually insist on real pipe organs just on principle,” he added.

Ellis said his favourite organ is the Casavant Freres organ found at Westminster Abbey in Mission., but his favourite used to be the organ found at St. Andrew’s-Wesley United Church in Vancouver, an instrument that featured close to 60 ranks of pipes but was downsized a few years ago.

Here are five key organs you may want to go see and hear for yourself in and around Vancouver.

Holy Rosary Cathedral — 646 Richards Street, Vancouver

Holy Rosary’s Karn-Warren organ is said to be the oldest romantic-style organ in B.C. to have remained in its original spot. The church’s website (holyrosarycathedral.org) explains how the original instrument boasted 2468 pipes before it was disassembled and sent for repairs with Quebec organ builders Casavant Freres. Two years later, it returned to Holy Rosary boasting 2899 pipes laid out over 51 ranks, with a console of three manuals (rows of keys), a pedal board of 32 notes and 42 stops controlling air flow to the pipes.

St. Patrick’s Catholic Church — 2881 Main Street, Vancouver

Boasting 990 pipes, St. Patrick’s organ is considered to be rather modest. The organ, which is almost brand new, was completed on Sept. 21, 2013. Four different organists regularly play the instrument. Costing $450,000, the organ was built by D. Leslie Smith of Fergus, Ont. Originally given to the Guardian Angels Church on Broughton Street, it was re-gifted to St. Patrick’s when it was decided the West End church could not accommodate it.

Good Shepherd Church — 2250 150th Street, Surrey

The semi-circular church was designed with acoustics in mind, and its massive $500,000 pipe organ was the final touch to the room. The sound design is meant to emphasize speech, with an average reverberation rate of 1.6 seconds, which is a little more “dry” than most churches featuring a pipe organ.

St. Ann’s Roman Catholic Church, 33333 Mayfair Ave., Abbotsford

St. Ann’s pipe organ is an instrument built by Jack Ellis that incorporates the church’s original J.C. Hallman three-rank organ.

Westminster Abbey Church — 34224 Dewdney Trunk Rd, Mission

This classic three manual instrument designed by Casavant Freres was rebuilt using Ellis’ electronic components. The church itself, with its spectacular view of the Fraser Valley, is worth the trip on its own.

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Pipe lines: Where are the real organs in Vancouver?

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